Rev. Abuna Elias Chacour to receive 18th Niwano Peace Prize

19.02.2001 – 09:44

Tokyo (ots-PRNewswire) - The Niwano Peace Foundation (Nichiko
Niwano, president, and Motoyuki Naganuma, chairman) officially
announced that it has decided to award the 18th Niwano Peace Prize to
an ordained Palestinian Christian priest and educator, Rev. Abuna
Elias Chacour of Israel. This decision was reached after careful
deliberation by a screening committee of seven members representing
the Buddhist, Christian, and Islamic faiths who chose from
nominations offered by 1,000 recognised authorities in 125 different
countries. The presentation ceremony will take place in Tokyo,
Japan, on Thursday, May 10th, at 10:30 a.m. In addition to the award
certificate, Rev. Abuna Elias Chacour will receive a subsidiary prize
of a medal and 20 million yen.
Sixty-one-year-old Rev. Chacour is a Melkite Catholic Priest and
the president of Mar Elias Educational Institutions. Rev. Chacour
has dedicated himself totally over the last thirty-plus years to
efforts for reconciliation between Jews and Palestinians in Israel.
In particular, Mar Elias Educational Institutions which Rev. Chacour
established has been serving as a site for developing mutual
understanding between youths of different religions and ethnic
backgrounds.
In 1939, Rev. Chacour was born in the village of Biram in the
Upper Galilee in Arab Palestine to a Palestinian Christian family.
At the age of eight, he experienced the tragedy of his people when
his family was evicted by the arrival of Jewish immigrants and became
refugees in their homeland. People who have experienced persecution
can become embittered and often resign themselves to a course of
violent revenge. But that was not the path that Rev. Chacour chose.
The Jews themselves had been the victims of persecution by Nazi.
Instead of meeting violence with violence, he chose the course of
action to break the cycle of violence, suspicion, and hatred. In
co-operation with Jewish friends, Rev. Chacour organised a march
comprising Jews and Arabs to protest the Israeli authorities' violent
oppression of Palestinian refugees.
Rev. Chacour said in a message that he was delighted to be
honoured with the Niwano Peace Prize, and that the existence of the
Niwano Peace Foundation and the prize with which they honour so many
people who work for peace and reconciliation is a sign of hope for
humanity.
URL: http://www.npf.or.jp
ots Original Text Service: Niwano Peace Foundation
Internet: http://recherche.newsaktuell.de
Contact:
Hiromichi Mizumoto/Niwano Peace Foundation,
Shamvilla Catherina 5F, 1-16-9 Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo
Phone: +81-3-3226-4371 Fax: +81-3-3226-1835
E-mail: Hiromichi.Mizumoto@npf.or.jpOriginal-Content von: Niwano Peace Foundation, übermittelt durch news aktuell